Restore
by Lucky Dice Kirby
Summary: It started as just a cup of coffee and a slice of pie, and slowly became something more. ‹alfredoxchuck›‹yes, you read that right.›


One particular Saturday afternoon, Chuck was spending her time going through various hate mail and death threats addressed to Lawrence Schatz.

She found the experience not at all to her liking; in fact, it was quite depressing. So much so that she felt it necessary to voice her thoughts aloud. Her statement made its way to the ears of Alfredo Aldarisio, a man in the trade of pharmaceutical sales. He swiftly made his way the booth she was currently occupying, and began to show off his wares, hoping to make a bit of money. In the end, he got a bit more than he bargained for.

Chuck was much more open than Olive had been, and listened intently as he told her about his herbal medicines. She seemed delighted, and was eager to have a sample package. This slightly confused Alfredo, as she seemed to be perfectly happy without needing any aids. He wasn't one to turn down a potential customer, however, so he gave them to her gladly.

What Alfredo did not know was that Chuck was using his medications on her aunts, hoping to bring them out of whatever dark place they were in. Soon, the sample pack had run dry, all of it made into pies with gruyere baked into the crust, and Chuck was in need of a refill.

She caught Alfredo lurking outside The Pie Hole one morning, and asked him inside to have coffee and a slice of pie. Sipping espresso from the newly fixed espresso machine, she told Alfredo the truth about what she was doing for her aunts, though she left out the parts that involved her being technically dead.

Alfredo found her tale quite heart-warming, more so than his pharmaceuticals had ever been. He agreed to sell her his bottled happiness, so she could continue baking it into pies to deliver to her aunts, and spread the feeling that came so easily to her.

xxx

Several times after that, Chuck and Alfredo met for coffee. Ned had begun to visit her Aunts Lily and Vivian on occasion, and reported that they seemed to be getting progressively cheerier, after the first few weeks of mood swings. She thanked Alfredo profusely, saying she had never seen two people come back to life so quickly in such a short time. This was not strictly true; she herself had come back to life with a single touch from the Pie-maker. However, thoughts of Ned were far from her mind when she was with Alfredo, as she found herself inexplicably drawn to him. Their meetings became more intimate, and soon they were meeting in Alfredo's flat, only a few blocks away from The Pie Hole.

She began to call him the Coffee-maker, after Ned's title. It didn't have the same ring to it as the Pie-maker, but she needed to be reminded of Ned and all he had done for her when she was with Alfredo. Chuck was ashamed that such reminders were needed, but she needed them all the same.

Alfredo told her of his pathological fear of the air leaving the room, and unlike many others he had told, she found this quirk endearing, not odd. Quaint, like dessert spoons, as Ned would say, but her thoughts still lingered far from him.

xxx

In Olive Snook, Alfredo thought he had found a kindred spirit, but found now that he had been mistaken. For while Olive understood his fear of all the oxygen in the world being sucked into the vacuum of space, Chuck accepted it. What drew him in, however, was her perpetual happiness that was far more real than anything his wares had ever done.

Alfredo wondered at the natural happiness he felt around her, and if it too could be bottled and sold, or if he would have to find it on his own. From his time spent in The Pie Hole, he gathered that she was close in some way to the Pie-maker, though he found it odd that they never touched. He asked Chuck of the nature of her relationship with Ned while she sat in his living room, eating a pie from The Pie Hole (Another reminder she had brought with her).

Chuck found that she had no answer for him. Just a few weeks ago, the reply would have come readily to her lips, but now she was not so sure.

"He's…A friend of mine, I guess. We used to know each other when we were just kids, you know?"

Realizing that this answer pleased him, Alfredo nodded and took another bite of pie, wondering what he ought to say next. Unable to think of anything, he swallowed his pie and leaned forward to kiss Chuck.

There was no plastic wrap between their lips, and Chuck found that she felt much more alive doing this than any of the times she had kissed Ned.

Now, she decided, she had three birthdays to celebrate, for she felt she had been brought back to life once again in a way she never was before. Ned had brought her back to life once, but Alfredo had done it once again, and in a much more profound way. Chuck wondered how her heart could have even been beating before, if her life was being restored back to her so many times. Maybe Ned had brought her back to life physically, but without Alfredo, her heart would have remained buried.

* * *

Ahahahaaaaaaa xD Sorry, I couldn't resist. Writing crack pairings without making the fic crackish is all the fun! Anyway, I don't own Pushing Daisies, blah blah blah. 


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